I did respond to Stephanie Meditz’s request, but it was after this article was published. The following is what I wrote back to her.
Hi Stephanie,
Please accept my apology for the delay responding to your request. In addition to being the State Senator Candidate on the ballot against Joseph Addabbo, I am also the president of Central Queens Republican Club. We are having a meeting tonight. Topic: Judicial Candidates and Roundtable of Party Chairs.
My main concern has always been the needs of our citizens. Yes, I want to win, but when the system is stacked against non-incumbents, a big part of me has to acknowledge the difficulty of the fight.
This is my experience. I lost against Addabbo in 2022, but I got 43% of the votes. I was on four lines: Republican, Conservative, Independence and Medical Freedom. Addabbo, two: Democrat and We The People. This year, Addabbo is only on the Democrat line. I filed for six lines: Conservative, Republican, Common Sense, We The People, Truth and Secure Border. Addabbo decided to challenge all, except Conservative.
I have enough Republican signatures, but the Supreme Court judge denied my challenge affirmations and time to collect more. I was given 2 hours before going before the referee while all other election law judges gave opponents 3 to 19 days. Appellate Court accepted some denied affirmations, but rejected those collected after those 2 hours. Court of Appeals sat on it, and denied my motion in September right before the 45 day ballot mailing deadline.
Similarly, the other four independent nominating petitions were ruled off the ballot by the Board of Elections commissioners when I even pointed out the Board did not follow the law. When I appealed before the Supreme Court, the same judge against my Republican petition would not even sign off on my Order to Show Cause. When I asked the Appellate Court to force a hearing, it did not sign off on my Order to Show Cause before it was right before the June 25 primary day, though the petition was for the November 5 general. It does not matter that I showed the court the section of the law that the Board erred.
Here is the link with more details should you be interested in view the court documents of all the cases.
Unfairness is baked into the system. As long as the victor wins, losers don’t usually get to see the light of day.
Let’s talk about issues.
Migrant Crisis. City’s welcome mat housing illegals has done more harm than good. Illegals need to understand that they are here at the generosity of the system, and the laws say they need to return if rejected. The City is abetting in this criminal enterprise.
Budget/Inflation: Politicians treat them as two separate issues, but they are co-dependent. When we know how much we get every month, we know how to prioritize our spending. According to Citizens Budget Commission, NYC collects $10,331 in taxes per capita, and spent near $15,000. Nearly half of city’s budget is to pay for salary, pension, health of city’s workforce. With Mayor Adam’s sweetheart union contract renewals, it will easily go over 50%, which means less for programs unless your taxes go up.
We know it will. Politicians have been very good in taking bad issues out of election year headlines. Congestion pricing, migrant crisis, city’s exodus of its residents while touting programs that will cost more like Local Law 97, new trash cans to fight rats, etc.
Career politicians only worry about staying in office, not getting to the bottom of truth or doing what is right. They thrive on “polarization”, because it drowns out voter attention. In all the advertisement you see and read, their opponent is evil, and the media repeats it.
Why can’t we break bread, and hear each other out? For club’s meeting tonight, I invited party chairmen of Working Families, Democrat, Republican and Conservative to attend. No one from Democrat or Working Families replied to my repeated invitation attempts. I even visited Working Families HQ in Downtown Brooklyn. No one even met me there. For club’s September meeting, I invited all Queens Democrats having a Republican challenger to a debate, again, I got silenced. Even as simple as social held in August, none of the Democrats came.
Should I be elected, that would be one of my first promise to our citizens, all views could share the stage. Solutions should be multi-pronged. Since the Mayor is willing to consider Sanitation Commission Jessica Tisch for NYPD Commissioner, I recommend an open call for all appointed positions. I am confident we have a lot of talent not tapped by those in power.
For those citizens who felt cheated by the judicial system, their story will be heard.
For voters who want to know how their elected officials performed, there should be an easier and fairer way for the public to track.
There are more I could say, but let me save it for your questions, if any.
Thank you for contacting me.
Sincerely,
Danniel Maio